


Exploding Wells

by bl00dorangekisses



Category: Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Past Relationship(s), Some Swearing, Unhealthy Relationships, a few OCs - Freeform, but I try to keep them unnamed and minor, but i'll try not to, characters might end up OOC, come chapter 7 it starts to get different, going to attempt to do a gender neutral reader, i haven't written that POV before but no time like the present, joseph isn't quite allergic to shirts yet, pls tell me if I don't accomplish that, pre-game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2019-09-16 19:26:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16960089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bl00dorangekisses/pseuds/bl00dorangekisses
Summary: You are looking for a fresh start away from the city after your husband leaves you, and you decide Hope County is the place to be.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is me stretching my fanfiction muscles (I haven't written fanfic since the 00's; gotta love that Harry Potter), so please be a little bit gentle . Characters might end up more on the end of OOC, but again, I haven't done this in a long time. If you have some tips, let me know maybe? 
> 
> Anyway, you'll probably figure out what the plot is here pretty quick because I have a tendency to do subtle about as well as a brick through a window. 
> 
> Please enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Hope County was a beautiful place, far different from the city. A different speed, one that you could get behind, complete with spending time with the most adorable dog you had ever met. Your aunt Rae Rae and her dog Boomer had welcomed you with open arms, even though she didn’t have the room to house you and all that had come with you, and you spent your evenings there. Your days too, when you weren’t out with the real estate agent, until you had to retire back to your motel room in Falls End. 

The real estate agent had shown you a few places, mostly run down, but you was having trouble finding places in Holland Valley to sell. Some religious group was buying place left and right, apparently. Rae Rae had sworn up and down about the “damned Peggies.” Whenever you asked people just said they were a doomsday cult that had set up shop and started building bunkers, run by the Seeds. No one your aunt had introduced you to had anything nice to say about the cult or the siblings that led it and would break off into rants or muttering. You had a little bit of morbid curiosity about who they were and how they worked, but no one seemed to look too much into it beyond their dislike and even the real-estate agent just plastered on a fake smile and changed the subject when you asked about them. Rae Rae’s cousin Dutch was by far the one who gave the most information about the cult, but was mostly just derogatory. He did tell you they believed in something called the Collapse, and that God would create a new Eden through fire and destruction. You didn’t know how much to believe him, given that he was a prepper too. Television programs and the internet had led you to believe a long time ago that preppers were some kind of crazy. These Eden’s Gate people were preppers too, and you let the subject go after you couldn’t find out much more about it without actually going to their church. You had better things to do than that. 

You had already met Mary May, whose father owned the Spread Eagle bar when Rae Rae had taken you out on your second night there. Not that you could see yourself spending much time there; you weren’t a drinker even before your husband left, and you had more important things to worry about than going there. It did seem to be a community hot-spot however, and about the only place to go out to. You had also met Father Jerome. A nice man, even if you weren’t the religious type. He had been at the Spread Eagle to speak with Mary May’s parents about Eden’s Gate trying to buy the bar, sipping at a glass of water. Sheriff Whitehorse had even stopped in, greeted Rae Rae cheerfully, and then you. He was a fatherly man with white hair and a good attitude. Grandfatherly in the sense that most people thought about, thankfully nothing like your own grandfather. 

“You heard from your husband?” Rae Rae asked while you sipped at your beer. You still preferred wine, the red wine your husband used to buy for you on your birthday. Rae Rae had never met your husband, no one in your family really had. You preferred to keep that good part of your life separate from your parents, and that meant, at the time, that Rae Rae had only seen one picture of him when you first got married. 

You frowned at Rae Rae. “He hasn’t tried to talk to me at all. Not that I would pick up if he called anyway. Why?”

Rae Rae shrugged, scanning around the bar. “Nothin, just wanted to make sure he wouldn’t bring trouble to you since you moved.” 

“I don’t see why. It’s been almost three years, he clearly doesn’t care.” 

“Well, you know exes. Always returning to fuck up a good thing.” 

You grinned. “How is your ex-husband by the way?”

“Oh, shut it.” She dropped the topic, and told you about how her son, Ryan, had waited all day last week for his father to pick him up, but the bastard didn’t. No one had seen hide nor hair of him since the month before, during his last visitation weekend with Ryan. He was known to be a heavy drinker with a habit of betting on sports games, and liked to go into the woods and hide from his bookies with as many six packs as he could carry under his arms and bottles clinking in his pack. No one would be surprised if he turned up dead sometime, or didn’t turn up at all. Her new husband had taken Ryan out to eat and to see a movie after the ex didn’t show. 

“I’m worried about him,” Rae Rae confessed as you walked her to the passenger side of her truck. She wasn’t drunk, per say, but couldn’t stand without swaying. “I shouldn’t be, he’s a bastard, but I am.” 

“He’ll show up on the doorstep in a couple days yelling about visitation and you’ll have to call the sheriff again,” you soothed as she got in the cab. She’d complained multiple times about it happening. He’d be pissed he had to wait until the next month for visitation since he missed it. “Or you’ll get a call and some lame excuse about tripping while was in the woods and having to spend the weekend in the hospital again.” 

“No,” she said. “He’d deserve it if anything happened to him. I’d laugh if he got beat by his bookies again. This is... different. He’d of usually left at least some sort of message for Ryan by now. It’s nothing but excuses, but he tries to do something at least.”

“Do you want to call the sheriff about it?” you say, but she shakes her head before you’ve even finished the sentence. 

“No, they know him. They’ll just say he’s run off again. Whitehorse might believe me, but he won’t be able to do much until he thinks he’s come out of hiding. No, I think it was those Peggies.” 

“What? They’re just some doomsday cult.” 

“I’ve heard things,” Rae Rae whispered as if someone would overhear. “John Seeds’ been trying to force people to sell off their property, and there’s been talk of drugs and kidnapping. Even murder. What if he’s caught up in that? What if they killed him?”

You shook your head. “I’m sure they haven’t killed him. Everyone’s so suspicious of them, the sheriffs would be on them in a second.” You pushed her back in the seat. “He’s probably just sleeping a hangover off in a cabin. There was that big baseball game last week, I’m sure he spent a lot of money on it.” You gently closed the door. 

Rae Rae nodded, eyes lowering to her lap as you walked around the front of the truck, but she still had that concerned look on her face. 

When you saw her the next morning after passing her off to her husband to go lay down in bed, she was cheerful again, as if your conversation had never happened.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet the Seeds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please try to forgive my horrible love of commas and far too long sentences. I did edit, but I probably missed some. Let me know if you need clarification on things, because I will try to make it clear to you and use your comments to edit to make it clear for everyone else.

You didn’t officially see the Seeds until almost a month later. You’d still heard plenty about them, and about the mac’n’cheese incident, and had even seen a few of the members of Eden’s Gate. Any talk about John Seed put a ten pound weight in your gut. You tried to wave it off as coincidence; your husband had been a lawyer. A wealthy one. He’d gotten a huge apartment when you got married, with a doorman that kept solicitors out. Now you’d had these Eden’s Gate people talk to you at the store, twice, and even show up to Rae Rae’s. She yelled at them to go away and slammed the door in their face. When you saw them at the store, other people in town would get involved and there would be lots of shouting at the Eden’s Gate members. The sheriffs were called both times you saw it and worked hard to calm everyone down and get people moving along. The Eden’s Gate members were usually serene in these situations, smiling prettily and saying how sad they were that whoever was yelling was in such a bad place in their life that they would scream at anyone trying to preach the good word the Father.

The first time you saw the Seeds, Rae Rae pointed them out--well, pointed them out was a bit of an overstatement, more like cursed their names--as they were pulling out of the Spread Eagle parking lot. The sheriffs were present; Rae Rae had already told you the leader Joseph Seed liked to go to different places and proselytize. Especially places he thought embodied sin. You had to take a second glance as the car passed you, but didn’t say anything to Rae Rae. She changed the subject to the latest PTA meeting, keeping her eyes on the road. The school was talking about banning sweets from even being brought to school in kids’ lunch bags. She said that some of the Eden’s Gate parents had brought it up. She went to the meetings for Ryan since he was in school, but said had asked you multiple times to go with her. She said it would be good practice for in a couple of years. You tuned her out, instead thinking of the men in the front of the car, already long gone. The one in the passenger seat had to be Joseph, long hair tied back and yellow aviator glasses perched on his nose. The other one had to be one of his brothers, dressed in clothes you recognized as your husbands favorite Italian brand. Only the best fabrics would ever rub against his skin. 

You saw the Seed family for the second time when you were waiting outside their church as it was letting out on Sunday morning. This time, all of them were there. The leaders, the Seed family, were hugging and chatting with their flock. Well, only two of the brothers and the sister, really. Jacob Seed, the eldest brother, stood alone near the doors of the church, arms crossed over his chest. The congregates mostly gathered around Joseph Seed, gazing at him as if he was the sun. John Seed had his most charming smile on, happily taking the hands of the female members and holding them in his own hands while they stared up at him. He would let them go and move onto the next, like some politician kissing babes. Faith Seed, the sister, hovered around Joseph, looking at him with the same starstruck eyes as the rest of the flock. 

Eventually, most of the congregates left, and the Seed siblings returned inside the church. You waited until the doors were shut and made your way down. There were still a few stragglers, and some of them eyed you. They didn’t stop you though as you pulled open one of the doors to the church as quietly as you could. The siblings were all on the dias, speaking with each other. Joseph was asking Jacob how his part was going, whatever that meant. Maybe how he was doing gathering believers from his base at the veterans center in the Whitetail Mountains. Rae Rae had complained about how he’d pretty much bought the place out. 

Your boots, an expensive gift from your husband one Christmas, tapped on the wooden floor as you made your way down the center aisle. He’d known how you loved the sound when your stylish shoes clicked against hard surfaces. 

Joseph Seed turned toward you as you got close. “I’m sorry, child, but my sermon is over for the day. Is there anything I can help you with?” Jacob Seed was facing you over his brother’s heads, expressionless as he examined you. John turned, and you saw surprise flash in his eyes. 

You remained silent in the face of Joseph’s question, instead smacking John across his shocked face. He gaped for a moment, and then began to say your name through a slack jaw, but you just hit him again. A large hand caught your wrist after that one. The arm was covered in some sort of rash or scarring. You figured it was Jacob since he was the biggest, but you didn’t bother to look away from John. 

John finally said your name, silencing his brother who had been saying something you hadn’t bothered to listen to. “What are you doing here?” 

“What am I doing here?” you hiss. “Me? What are you doing here!” 

“I-I’m--why-why are you here?” 

“I moved here to get some peace and fucking quiet, and then I saw you.”

Joseph stepped up, almost between the two of you. Jacob Seed still had hold of your arm, but you weren’t trying to hit John anymore, as much as you wanted to. 

“What is your name?” Joseph asked, trying to regain some semblance of control over the room. There was a hard edge to his voice, something you recognized from your husband. He was angry, but he was going to try to talk you down.

“You left me alone!” you screech at John before Joseph could say something else. “Not a single word or even a note. I had to be told by the police that you didn’t want to see me, that you left me, that you couldn’t-wouldn’t see me. The cops! I filed a missing persons report, I thought you were dead in a ditch somewhere.” John’s eyes softened with guilt, and he seemed at a loss for words. His jaw still moved like he wanted to try to say something. You plowed on, eyes stinging at the memories. “I thought I was going to have to go and claim your body because someone beat you to death. I was scared, John.” You’d had nightmares of that very scenario with his bookie and his dealer for the two agonizing weeks you were left in the dark. You woke up at every little creak and horn blast outside because you worried if he was on the run, if they would break in and hurt you. All up until that day you opened the door to the pitying eyes of two cops. 

John tried to say your name again, reaching out to touch your face, but you stepped back. His hand lingered in the empty air. Jacob’s hold was looser now and you were able to shake him off. 

“But no, you were just a fucking coward and couldn’t even tell me you wanted out. I’m having papers drawn up, and you’re going to sign them. And you’re never going to speak to me or mine again.” 

You turned on your heel, ignoring John as he cried out your name. He had managed to get it all out this time. He sounded heartbroken, as if you’d stabbed him, as if you were the one who had left. You used to listen to his apologies, used to melt at the end of them, but not this time. He didn’t get to talk how much pain you put him in when he broke your heart first. 

“Stop,” you heard Joseph say as you opened the door, but not to you. Two bodies sat down hard on the floor. “We’ll help you through this, brother.”

You pulled out onto the road and headed for your Aunt Rae Rae’s house, blinking back tears. You barely remembered walking through the compound, ignoring anyone who tried to speak to you. You barely remembered getting into your car. Some tears escaped, running down your cheeks.You had to pull off to the side of the road and take deep breaths, fighting the sobs that threatened to break out of your chest. 

You had someone else to take care of now, you couldn’t shed anymore tears over John Duncan. He was clearly dead now. You pulled back onto the road before someone could recognize your car and stop to try to help you, and then tell Rae Rae about it. She had enough on her plate as it was. A thought occurred to you, but Rae Rae couldn’t have known John Seed was your John. The both of you didn’t keep social media, and John would distract you every time you’d even think of sending a wedding photo to her. He didn’t like his picture shared, said he didn’t want his private life with you to be put in jeopardy by any disgruntled clients. She’d never even asked the name of his firm to look him up. He had a picture there, one he was very proud of. It had been taken down the day before he left though. But, maybe his image wouldn’t be as hard for someone to find as you thought?

You shook the thoughts away. Even if Rae Rae knew he was here and didn’t tell you, you truly hadn’t wanted to know. The cops had told you he’d changed his name, and you’d stopped them before they could tell you. You hadn’t been thinking of the divorce papers then, but anytime you thought about calling them to find out his name so you could send them, you just broke into tears again. You had been content knowing you could play the scorned, abandoned wife. That if he decided that he wanted to marry again, and he’d flirted with enough more beautiful women for you to know he would, he’d have to to crawl back and grovel before you’d agree to sign anything. Or maybe you wouldn’t have, just to fuck him over. 

But any thoughts of that was gone now, seeing him with his family. The family he didn’t talk about unless he was drunk and wouldn’t remember it in the morning. The family that had been split up. The family he didn’t even tell you he’d found. You could never have replaced his brothers, but you could help him make a new family, and new memories. But he threw that away, before you could even tell him. 

You pulled in beside Rae Rae’s truck and turned your car off. You checked in the rearview mirror to make sure it wasn’t too apparent you’d been crying, and cleaned away and quickly reapplied what makeup had been messed up by your tears. Not too much, this waterproof stuff was great. 

You got out of the car, and plastered on a smile that wasn’t so fake as the door burst open and a little body came flying out the door. Your little niece, but she knew you instead as her only parent. You caught her and lifted her up high in the air. 

“Were you good for Auntie Rae Rae and Ryan today?” you cooed to the toddler and pressed a big kiss to her cheek. 

No, John would never be apart of the family you had been ready to create with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that got a little long, but I'm excited to write this. There will be more to try and tie in the game more since we're living in Hope County with no plans to move at the moment.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joseph shows up, and what's with that annoying radio station?

You were left in peace for a month with your little Jesse before you were approached again. You had managed to find a small place to rent, two rooms, a bathroom, a joined kitchen and living room, but with plenty of outdoor space for Jesse to run around. Not too far from your Aunt Rae Rae either. You had gotten a job at her farm, so you got a little bit of extra cash, not that you needed it with the joint bank account John hadn’t touched since he left you, and baby Jesse got to hang all over Boomer all day. She loved that dog, would constantly be petting him and cooing in his face and laying on top of him whenever he was resting, and the dog just took it. It made you laugh, but when Jesse was out of sight it was like the happiness was sucked out of you. You had to make an effort to put on a fake smile for Rae Rae and her customers, to chat like nothing was wrong. It made you tired. 

One afternoon, Jesse slept in her carseat while you drove. She’d had a long and exciting day at Aunt Rae Rae’s, chasing after Boomer while he hunted some rodent in the fields. Ryan had chased after them all afternoon, making sure Jesse didn’t get into any trouble while you helped Rae Rae out at the stand. You were fiddling with the radio with one hand, trying to get a music station to come in. Clear music finally came through and you frowned, listening to the song. Something about Jacob setting sinners free. You figured it was probably some gospel station, but the song bothered you. You had never been religious, never had the time or want to pay attention to to any of it, so you certainly weren’t some biblical scholar, but you didn’t think the name Jacob was associated with any sort of ‘freeing sinners’. To your knowledge anyway, what did you know? You flipped past it until a grainy classic rock station came in. 

When you pulled up to your house, Joseph Seed waited, leaning on a white truck painted with the Eden’s Gate symbol. He pushed off the side of the truck when you stopped behind him, pulled onto the grass of your front lawn to put some distance between the two of you. 

You got out, minding not to slam the door and wake Jesse, and walked around the front of the car, trying to position yourself so he wouldn’t be able to catch a good glimpse of her. “What are you doing here?” The words came out with less venom than intended. You hadn’t wanted to see any of Eden’s Gate when you’d told John to stay away, but you weren’t exactly clear on that. You’d only told John to leave you alone. Now, after seeing him and having the chance to scream, you were exhausted. Even a month later, the only thing you wanted to do was cry yourself to sleep and stay that way for at least a week. Jesse kept you busy though, kept you sane. Kept you from thinking about John too much, when she was around. She wouldn’t be able to understand why you were sad, and then she would be sad too, and you couldn’t bear that.

“I’ve come to speak with you about John,” Joseph said. 

You leaned one hand on your car, trying to block his view of Jesse. He didn’t seem to have seen her yet.The windows were tinted some, but not enough to hide her if he looked close enough. 

“What about him? He deserved every word I said.” 

“I am sure he did,” Joseph said. He had those obnoxious yellow sunglasses on. “I will admit to you that I called him away from that city, but had I known he was married, and that he hadn’t said a word to you of it, I would have done things differently. Guided him to do things differently.”

“What’s there to talk about? He left, the choice was his and the damage is done. My lawyer sent the papers over today.”

“John is a far different man than you knew then. He’s been cleansed.”

You almost snorted. “No offense, but it takes a lot more than holy water and some prayers to cleanse, or however you do it, someone’s sins away. Especially his.” 

“Leaving you like he did was a most grievous offense, and I understand your wrath-” Joseph began, but you interrupted him. 

“No, he’s done plenty more than that. The drugs, the gambling, the ‘late nights’ at the office…” You trailed off at the hard anger in Joseph's eyes, not sure who it was directed at.

“He’s confessed to me everything,” Joseph said, tone gentle even with his anger, “and he regrets that part of his life. He told me he regrets most what it did to you.” 

“He always regretted it, after he did it. And then he’d go do it again.” You shook your head. “I’ve grown up since then, I think you’ll find. I’m not so naive anymore. He wouldn’t change his ways for me, and I doubt he’d change them for you.” 

Then, from the car, little Jesse, who had woken at some point, began to shout for you. 

Joseph glanced around you curiously. “You have a child?”

“I have things to do inside now, Mr. Seed,” you said, hurrying around the car and opening Jesse’s door. She had already almost finished unbuckling herself from the carseat. You lifted her up, trying to keep her face from Joseph’s view. She wrapped her legs around your middle and rested her chin on your shoulder. She always wanted to be cuddled when she woke up from naps. 

“Very well.” Joseph Seed’s eyes were on Jesse’s back. “I’ll speak to you again.” He climbed in the truck and backed out. He barely took his eyes off you and Jesse until he pulled onto the road and drove off. 

“Who ‘dat?” Jesse asked in your ear. She had lifted her head up to watch the truck go. 

“No one, baby. Come on, let’s go have some dinner.” 

“Mac’n cheese.” Jesse rested her chin back on your shoulder and wrapped her arms around your neck. 

“Sure, baby.” You patted her back and headed for the front door.

You barely slept that night, waking up at every little sound, afraid it was Joseph or John breaking into your home to take Jesse away. Surely Joseph would have told him by now. Maybe you’d ask Rae Rae if you could spend a couple nights at her house, just to make sure. Or Dutch’s. They wouldn’t be able to find his bunker. Jesse had slept in your bed, as she had almost every night since she turned one year old. You had tried to move her bed to her own room, but she would climb out and climb into your bed. You had secretly missed listening to her little bear snores anyway, and didn’t do much to stop it. You didn’t know if it was supposed to be healthy to do it for so long, the mommy magazines were always flip flopping on the topic, but it made the both of you sleep better. 

You worked the register again at Rae Rae’s the next day, but it was slow. Jesse and Boomer both stayed close, playing behind your table. Jesse was being clingy, she would periodically come over and demand to be held until you had to put her down or she wanted to go hug Boomer instead. 

You waved to Mary May from the Spread Eagle, who had just arrived and was perusing the many pumpkins, and fiddled with the radio. The signals were shit today, probably something to do with the amount of clouds. You were half afraid it was going to rain all over you, but it hadn’t yet. 

You fiddled with the radio, and that gospel station came in again. Something about building a castle. You turned the dial on the old radio again, but nothing else was coming in, even the classic rock one you’d been listening to. You settled back on the other one, listening to the lyrics of the song. It was obviously a metaphor for something. 

“That’s the cult’s radio station,” Mary May said. “They’re the only ones who listen to it, but it’s the only thing that comes in sometimes.”

“It’s catchy, I guess,” you said. “If you like country.” 

She laughed a little. “You’ll like country before the end of this month, I promise. But none of this crap,” she waved a hand at the radio, “the good stuff. Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson and all that.” 

“Hey, I don’t mind a little Willie.” You pinched your thumb and forefinger together, holding it near your mouth and pretending to inhale. Mary May laughed. 

The song ended, and a faster paced one started, talking about judgement, and then the refrain started. 

“Oh, John?” you asked. 

“John as in John Seed, Joseph’s younger brother. He’s one of the big wigs at the church, so they write songs about how he’s going to save them. They call him the Baptist.” She leaned one hip  
against the table. “He’s the one trying to buy up every place in Holland Valley.” 

“Oh John!” Jesse yelled from behind you. 

A chill ran down your spine, and Mary May laughed a little. 

“That’s enough of that, I think,” you said and turned the radio off. Jesse ducked under the table to greet Mary May. 

“Well hello there!” Mary May crouched down to Jesse’s level and took the rock that the toddler held out. “Thank you, what a pretty grey rock.” 

“Why’s he called the Baptist?” you asked, busying yourself with straightening and rearranging some of the smaller pumpkins that sat on the other end of the table. 

“Because he baptizes people I guess. I heard you have to go to him to be ‘cleansed’ of your sins. They do the whole thing in the river. You know, where you get dunked underwater.”  
You almost wanted to laugh at the thought of John cleansing anyone’s sins, but instead remembered sitting with John in the extra large bathtub he had installed, and his gentle hands dunking you under to help wash your hair. He must have applied those skill elsewhere. You wondered how many others he had done that to in the same manner, stroking their hair as he pulls them back up and smiling down at them. 

Jesse’s hands pulling on your jeans made you look down. She wanted to be picked up again. You shook the thoughts away and scooped her up into your arms. Mary May smiled at the picture you made, pressing kisses all over Jesse’s face while the little girl giggled. 

John didn’t have a place in your life anymore, only Jesse did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's with the author's equally annoying inability to choose past or present tense? I will probably do a larger edit once this is all finished, as I'm posting it as I go. 
> 
> Chapter took a bit of time, but life got in the way as it does. I had some trouble with writing Joseph and how he talks too. If you have some suggestions you feel like sharing of how to improve him, I'd love it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jacob stops by, You are conflicted, and Jesse is adorable. Also, did the author figure out how to stop rambling so much in the story while on vacation in not-winter? Hell nah. Why would I do that.

4

Jesse was gone. 

The plastic farm set Rae Rae had given her was laying in the dirt outside the back window where you had last seen her. She’d wanted to go outside to play, and you told her to stay in until you could go out with her, but she said her favorite word at the moment, “No!” You’d given in and told her to stay within view of the windows or she’d be in trouble. You’d just looked away for a moment to scrape the remains of her lunch in the trash, and now she was gone. 

There weren’t many places she could disappear to in your little yard, you were more concerned she had wandered into the woods. You ran through the trees, still within sight of the house, shouting her name and afraid you were going to stumble across a mountain lion or a wolf. Dutch had tried to assuage your fears a long time ago when you said something about the wildlife, saying that mountain lions generally only stayed in the mountains and that the wolves didn’t really like people so they stayed away, but you’d seen lots of those frightening stories of people being attacked on the giant flatscreen John had at the penthouse back in the city. In a flash, you regretted moving to Montana, even if Aunt Rae Rae was your only family. This place was dangerous, the wild animals alone. And friendly baby Jesse was too young to realize a wolf wasn’t a big fluffy puppy. 

You finally raced back to your little house, going to grab your cell and call Rae Rae and Dutch, maybe even the sheriff, when you heard giggling. Jesse was laughing at something, behind the truck. Truck? When had a truck pulled in? You hadn’t even heard it, hadn’t seen it when you ran out the door and around to the back of the house. 

Rounding the truck, you found Jesse giggling at a big man, the redhead. The last brother. Rae Rae pretended to be dismissive of him but you could see the worry in her eyes when he was mentioned, and Dutch just said he was dangerous. Other whispers reached your ears, that he was changing and training the wolves up in the mountains, that he kidnapped people’s dogs, and that his followers at the Veterans Center only looked frightened and nervous if they didn’t have dead, zombie eyes. You figured Dutch was just being a paranoid old bastard and that Rae Rae was needlessly concerned because of how they reacted to John and Joseph in the first place. Now, seeing him crouched in front of your Jesse, those thoughts floated through your mind. 

“Baby, who are you talking to?” you asked, careful not to alarm her. Despite your fear, you didn’t want her to get alarmed and start crying. Then she’d collapse on the ground where she was, in possible danger. 

She glanced over her shoulder at you and held out a little stuffed wolf before tucking it back under her arm. Jacob Seed put one arm under her and stood, lifting her to sit on his big shoulder. She laughed, suddenly higher up in the air than you usually lifted her. All three brothers were tall. Jacob was shorter than his other two brothers, but more than made up for those couple of inches in his muscles and broad chest. But you were tall too, only an inch or so shorter than John. You could hold John’s gaze, especially when he was lying about a case causing him to have to stay entire nights at work, so it was nothing to meet Jacob’s eyes. You didn’t want to, though. They were sharp, critical, and you could only look for a few moments before moving your gaze to his nose or his forehead. 

“Just wanted to meet my niece,” Jacob said with an easy grin. It didn’t quite reach his eyes, didn’t make them crinkle in the corner like a real smile, and you were reminded of the way wolves bare their teeth. “I know Joseph’s already seen her.” 

“I didn’t hear you drive up,” you said. Jesse was messing with his meticulously styled hair, but he didn’t seem to mind too much. 

“My truck’s quiet, had to modify it a little. Doesn’t scare things if I’m hunting.” 

You didn’t know why he would take a truck out hunting, especially when Dutch had already said Jacob liked to hike deep into the mountains on foot to hunt animals. “She disappeared on me, I didn’t know where she went.” A friendly smile was painted on your face from years of practice, but you knew your eyes were too wide and your posture too stiff. Jacob didn’t seem like he’d miss a thing the way his eyes flicked around and took you in. 

“She’s a brave little thing. Came right up to me.” He bounced her with his arm a little. “Isn’t that right, Jesse?” She grinned back. “Bet she’d love Joseph. I know he’d like to officially meet his niece.” 

“She’s not your niece,” you said. “She’s mine. I’m her guardian now.” 

Jacob cut his eyes at you. “She still calls you her parent.” 

You were angry for a moment. Whether he intended it or not, he’d made an insinuation. Something told you he had intended it. “Because I decided to raise her that way, because that’s what she needs. But she doesn’t have any blood relation to you or Joseph.” Or John. 

Jacob smirked, and you were left with the feeling that he was testing you. “But you’re married to John, which makes you and Jesse our family. You should make sure she has good, strong role models around her.” 

You scowled, miffed. “She does have good role models. And I sent him papers. We won’t be married much longer.” 

The smirk was still on his face. “Well, until then.” He pointed to Jesse, but his eyes stayed on you. “You be good, hmm? Otherwise Uncle Jacob will come and straighten you out.” Your fire died a little, and that fear niggled its way into the back of your mind. You didn’t think he was just talking to her. Jesse just giggled and pretended the stuffed wolf was trying to bite his finger. He faked being hurt for a moment before you hurried closer and pulled Jesse from his arms. Judging by the muscles under his shirt, it was only because he let you. He got in the truck and saluted you before driving off, slowly. 

You watched his truck until it disappeared, heading back up in the general direction of the mountains, and then hurried inside. You only grabbed your phone and your keys and got Jesse in her seat. She wouldn’t let go of the wolf, even when you told her to leave it in her room, just said, “No!” The drive to Rae Rae’s was agonizingly slow, and you kept imagining that every truck you passed or that came up behind you had a Peggie in it. You tried to shake the paranoia away, surely the Peggies weren’t in on anything. 

Jacob and Joseph didn’t really even know about you, they just wanted to get to know you. You knew John was adopted by the Duncans, you knew how they were. You knew how John’s real father was too, and that he’d been separated from his siblings. It was even hard to get the story out of him when he was drunk. They got their brother back, and you were part of his life away from them. It made sense they’d be interested, especially with Jesse. 

John had always held family as important, even when he came home smelling like some expensive perfume or booze or in rumpled three day old clothes, rubbing any remnants of powder away from his nose. He’d apologize and give you gifts and even take days off of work to pamper you. Of course it would happen again, you weren’t that naive, but you loved him in those moments. He had wanted to start a family with you through adoption, ranting when he drank about how he’d be a better parent than the Duncans ever were. You could only imagine the other two brothers had missed their family and were anxious to have it back, even if it came with two tagalongs. 

The thought started to calm you. Jacob was probably socially awkward. Went into the military at a young age, probably had some issues due to PTSD and trauma from his father and even when he served in the military. He might be a little socially awkward. Joseph too, especially since he began preaching and created a fringe group. You figure it must be hard for someone to make friends with people who might not be as religious as them. That’s probably why he held his followers so close. 

Maybe, maybe, you’d let Joseph and Jacob see Jesse after the divorce was finalized, if they wanted. They clearly wanted to know her. You didn’t have to get to know them properly, and you could demand she didn’t spend time around Joseph’s church or John. 

By the time you pulled up to Rae Rae’s house, your foot wasn’t made of lead anymore, and your heart didn’t pound. The anxiety was mostly gone, and you could push away the niggling thought of Jacob’s last words. I’ll come and straighten you out. Surely he was just trying to make a joke. A bad joke. Nothing else. 

Rae Rae came out of the house to greet you with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She lifted Jesse from your arms and cooed at the wolf the little girl shoved in her face. “I didn’t expect you two today. Is something wrong?”

“No,” you said. “We’re fine. Just wanted to visit. I hope we didn’t interrupt anything.” 

“Of course not, you and the baby are always welcome here.” She wrapped and arm around your shoulders and led you inside. “You’re in luck, I just pulled some cookies out of the oven.” 

“Cookies!” Jesse shouted. 

“Yes, baby, cookies.” Rae Rae pressed a kiss to her cheek and set Jesse down so she could run ahead to the kitchen, Boomer on her heels. Ryan met them at the door, holding out one for Jesse to take. 

“You sure you’re alright?” Rae Rae asked.

“Yes, everything’s fine.” How could everything not be fine when you watched Jesse with such a big smile on her face, happily shoving the cookie in her mouth, gooey chocolate chips smeared across her cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make Jacob a little threatening and creepy. Tried is the key word there, not entirely sure how it turned out. I award myself points for trying. Also, babies and toddlers with messy faces are cute as long as I don't have to clean them. Let me know what you thought of Jacob!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your car breaks down while you're out with Jesse, and you can't get a signal. Guess who's house is the closest?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this chapter got long, as did my absence, I apologize. All the canon characters are a little OOC but, I guess that's what I get for letting my fanfic writing skills die for so long. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

You kept finding flyers for the church on your door or tucked beneath your windshield wiper. Some of the members of Eden’s Gate even passed them to you when you saw them in town. You took them out of nicety, just like when you took your college classes back in the city and people would stand around campus and pass you pamphlets and psalm books. You recycled the Eden's Gate flyers, usually, just like you tried to with ones you got on campus. Some of them ones ended up forgotten on the floor of your car, or buried under junk mail you hadn’t thrown away yet. If they fell into Jesse’s hands she liked to pretend to read them, like when you read to her from her storybooks, and then tear them up with a glee only a toddler could find.

She was tearing one of the most recently handed out flyers into little pieces and throwing them up to snow down on her, and you were thinking about how you’d have to vacuum your car to get rid of it all, when your car began making a grinding noise. You pulled over, just as it decided to die on the spot. Jesse got busy blowing raspberries and you resisted the urge to swear at your car peering at the flashing lights on your dash. The GPS had gone to crap ten minutes before, saying that the connection had been lost, or something like that.

You were in the southern part of Holland Valley, and area you hadn’t been to before. Rae Rae had told you about a couple places to take Jesse where you could go for an easy hike along the river and have lunch. The day had been fun, but now you didn’t know exactly where you were and your car was broken down. The hazard lights weren’t even turning on. Jesse babbled in her seat and you pulled out your phone. Cell reception in Hope County was already spotty, but it had seemed to be getting worse and worse lately. There were times when you couldn’t find a signal anywhere, and you could usually get one at your house or Rae Rae’s. The signals would miraculously come back in what had previously been a deadzone after a while, but it was still annoying. The tinfoil-hatters Rae Rae knew said it was the government, most other people said it was Eden’s Gate, and you just figured it was from living a county in the middle of nowhere in a state that seemed to be the epitome of the middle of nowhere. 

Jesse was peering around, bouncing in her seat now. She would start chanting about getting out of the car soon, you knew. You glanced in your rearview mirror and then out your windshield, hoping a car would come around the bend and you could ask them for help. You really didn't want to be stuck out here for too long. Rae Rae would come looking for you if you weren’t back to her house by suppertime, you knew, and she’d rope Dutch into it too, but you couldn’t afford to wait that long with a toddler on an unseasonably warm day. You’d also eaten most of your food and drank most of your water. Not to mention the crying and screaming. 

There was a ranch a little bit back you had passed, but you couldn’t remember how far since you hadn’t really been paying attention. You didn’t know what was ahead of you, you had followed Rae Rae’s directions to get back, she said it would be easy, and then pulled out the GPS. After that you’d just felt like it was taking you all over the valley instead of to familiar territory. 

You got out and got Jesse out too, taking your backpack and putting what food and water you had left into it. She was excited to be hiking outside again, but was ultimately disappointed when you picked her up. She was already tired and wouldn’t last long walking around. Indeed, it was only twenty minutes before she was a deadweight, passed out on your shoulder. The day hadn’t been too hot before, a nice breeze coming from the river and the ever present threat of Jesse finding a shallow spot to splash you from, but here the air was still and the sun beat down. With the little furnace in your arms, you were starting to get hot. 

An engine came from behind you and you whirled around. A white truck was headed your way. You waved at it as much as you could without disturbing Jesse and the truck slowed down next to you. Eden’s Gate cross was painted on the side of the door, but you were too excited to acknowledge the little beat of caution in your chest. 

“Hello,” the woman driving said, smiling politely. “Are you all right?”

“My car broke down,” you said, trying to gently adjust Jesse on your aching shoulder without waking her, “and my cell won’t get a signal. Can I use yours, or can you give a ride to somewhere nearby with a phone I could use?”

The woman studied you and Jesse for a moment and then smiled. “Sure thing, hop in. There’s a ranch nearby. I know the person who owns it, he’ll let you use his phone.” 

“Thank you!” You hurried around the truck and she leaned across the bench seat to push open the door for you. The truck was clean, no dirt anywhere. No visible weapons. You got in slowly, trying to settle Jesse in your lap. 

“How old is she?” the woman asked as she began driving again. 

You told her Jesse’s age, not like you could hide how young she was when she was sleeping on your lap right in front of the stranger. “Thank you so much, I just moved here and I don’t quite know my way around the valley yet.” You probably shouldn’t have said that to a stranger, she could try something on you if she thought you had no connections to this place. “My family here gave me bad directions.” There, that was better. Now she knew you would have people looking for you. 

“The valley can be a little confusing,” the woman said, her face not giving away if anything you said mattered to her. “How do you like it here?”

“Oh it’s wonderful, we love the fresh air. She,” you gently stroked Jesse’s back, “likes having a backyard to play in.”

The woman smiled again. “Here we are. The ride to the ranch is a couple minutes, but we’ll be there in a jiff.” 

You looked out the windshield, and your heart dropped out of your chest. How the hell did you miss that when you drove by? 

There was a two sided billboard with the Eden’s Gate symbol in the background, the words “We will love you, we will take you,” and John. He was smiling and open, heartachingly like how you remembered him, how he would convince a jury to take his side. There was something wrong with his eyes though, they didn’t look like John’s whenever he used to look at you.

The woman turned up the drive, and you sat back, resolving not to say anything. John would let you use his phone, he could do you that one courtesy. He probably just looked weird because of the billboard, not because of anything else. 

The ranch was a log manor, not that you would expect anything less than him. You knew without even going into the building that the inside would be as ostentatious as possible. 

You got out of the truck when she stopped, and she led you up the sets of stairs to the front door, chattering away about how John was such a nice man, how he would help you and take care of you. 

“Just wait here,” she said and left you in the foyer. Just as you thought. The entire thing had a rustic feel, but he had only the best furniture, lots of taxidermied animals on the walls and dotted around the hug room. In the center was a huge fireplace that separated the living space from the dining area. It must’ve cost a pretty penny. Uncharacteristic of John however, was the crates sitting around. They were ugly, with the Eden’s Gate cross printed on the side. He wouldn’t keep them around just for that, that’s what he had his trophy case of Eden’s Gate memorabilia for. He hated even cardboard boxes from online orders sitting around for more than a couple of hours, said it made everything look messy. 

Footsteps hurried toward the staircase after a few moments, and you saw John. He was just as handsome as you remembered. More handsome, even. He had a beard now, making him look rugged. He wore a vest over a button up, just as he used to under his suit jacket. The jury had always appreciated how suave he always looked, though he didn’t have the beard, or the jeans and the huge belt buckle. Something he probably picked up when he came to Montana. He’d always stared at them in stores, you always figured it was a holdover from Georgia, but he seemed to have embraced it. That and the beard. His brothers had beards, and he was the type, you knew, to try to fit in with his long lost family. Also, to blend in with the locals of the Land of Beard-dom. Every man had some sort of facial hair. You could only imagine what John’s beard would feel like when he kissed your skin-

John said your name, stopping at the foot of the stairs, and you came back into reality. You couldn’t look in his eyes. They held some spark of happiness and hope. His sleeves were rolled up, showing--strong, muscular, oh so muscular--forearms covered in tattoos. He hadn’t had those when he was with you. You recognized the cult symbol on one of them, and the word SLOTH. 

“My car broke down,” you forced out. The woman who had brought you in had come down the stairs too and now hurried around you and out the door. That little spark that had been in John’s eyes went out. “My cell wouldn’t work. I need to use your phone.” 

“Of course,” John said and waved you in. He pointed to the table where an old, corded landline sat. “Feel free.” 

You dialed on the number pad and held the phone up to your ear. Rae Rae picked up on the second ring, and assured you she would get the guy at the garage in Falls End to go out with her. It would take a few minutes for her to get to Falls end and find the guy that owned the garage since he liked to get drunk in the middle of the day, but when you told her where you were you thought she sounded like she might drive a little faster and change up her plans.

“Do you want to lay her down?” John asked when you hung up. He continued when you looked at him like he had three heads. “I was told you’d been walking with her like that for a while, you must be tired.” 

You looked at the big couch, it did look comfortable. John had never spared a cent on comfort. 

“No one is going to hurt her,” he said. 

“I wasn’t thinking that.” You carried Jesse over and carefully laid her down, freezing whenever she shifted like she was going to wake. She didn’t thought, and curled up happily on the cushion, her little wolf hugged tight in her arms. 

“What’s her name?” he asked. 

“Why do you want to know?” You couldn’t help the little bit of venom that leaked into your voice. 

“Because she’s special to you.”

You were silent for a few moments, looking down at her. What harm could it do? It wasn’t like he would have any contact with her under your watchful eye. And it might hurt him, just a little, to know her name and not to know her. “Jesse.” 

“I like it.” He tilted his head, eyeing the stuffed wolf. “Jacob saw her, I take it.” 

“You didn’t know?” 

“No.” That one word was said with force, and… anger? Was he angry with Jacob now?

“Envy is a sin, you know.” You nodded at his arm where Sloth was written. 

He smiled, his mask suddenly on. The charming one he used when selling his arguments to clients and judges and juries, not you. “And I will repent for it, just like I’ve repented for my many others.” 

“Are you going to write ‘abandoning your spouse without a word’ on your arm too? Or maybe that one’s going on your back.” 

“I know you’re angry--”

“Angry doesn’t even begin to cover it, John.” 

“--And I am sorry for what I did to you. For what I did to both of you.” 

“Jesse didn’t come into my life until after you’d already left.”

“And she is part of you now. If I had been there, or brought you with me, she would be with both of us instead.” 

“Did you sign the papers yet?” you asked. “My lawyer will be wanting them back soon.”

“No. We’re married.” He held a placating hand out toward you when he saw the anger in your eyes. “We should try to work it out.”

“You lost that privilege when you couldn’t even tell me you were leaving,” you hiss, struggling to keep from shouting. Jesse still slept peacefully, unaware of what was happening. “Did I tell you before? I thought you were dead. I was terrified.” 

John eyed the way your hands were clenched into fists at your side. “I won’t take kindly to you hitting me again. I wasn’t in a place to respond last time,” you remembered the shock in his face and the way he couldn’t even speak, “but I won’t allow you to do it again.”

You forced out a breath and unclenched your hands. “I shouldn’t have hit you that day. I let my emotions control me.” You didn’t outright say you were sorry, the hurt in your heart wouldn’t let you. You knew you were in the wrong to have done that, but it felt good to make him feel even a modicum of the pain he had put you through. 

“We are not staying married,” you said, your tone more controlled now. The anger was still there in your voice, but not as outright malice. Tears welled in your eyes, instead. “You chose to leave me like you did, I can only assume you didn’t want to be married anymore.” 

“I was stupid,” he said, “I’ll admit it. You were on of the best things in my life and to treat you the way I did...I regretted after it was done, and then I couldn’t come and ask you to move here with my brothers.” 

“Yes, you could have.” Your voice cracked. “I would’ve gone with you if you had apologized to me. What did your brothers give you that I couldn’t, anyway?”

His mouth opened and closed for a few moments. “I lost them a long time ago, and then they came back into my life. I couldn’t turn them away. We are to stand together and lead our people after the Collapse. Would you have really left with me?” 

“Yes. I loved you, John. But then Jesse came to me and I couldn’t just sit around wasting my time on you anymore.” 

“I miss you,” he said softly, reaching out to brush a tear from your cheek. “I want you to be in my life again. I want you to forgive me.” 

You couldn’t help but twist the knife a little. “Why would you want little old me when you can have all those people in the Project?” His face stilled. “You think I don’t recognize the looks you gave them when they want to touch you? The same ones your assistants and the others you worked with gave you when they asked you to stay all those late nights?” 

He drew himself up, like the one time you bothered to even attempt to confront him about the ‘late nights’ at the office and the strange perfumes and colognes on his skin when he came home. “Are you suggesting I take advantage of my brother’s flock? I am one of the Heralds.”

“No, I’m suggesting you want to fuck anything that moves.” 

John’s jaw clenched and he was about to say something, but someone banged on the door instead. Rae Rae’s voice came from the other side, shouting for you and Jesse. 

“Sign the papers,” you say as Jesse started to rouse. You swung her up in your arms and marched to the door. John started after you at the last minute, almost shouting your name, but you had already swung the door open and stepped past Rae Rae. Her truck was still on, waiting for you. 

“I know exactly what you did,” Rae Rae said and you turned to see her jabbing her finger in John’s face. “You stay away from them, you hear? You and your cultist freaks.” 

John was livid now, you could see it in his eyes, but instead he just smiled and spoke to you. “The Collapse is coming soon, my love. You and darling Jesse are always welcome to take shelter with me. We can be a family, isn’t that what we always talked about?” 

Rae Rae put a hand on your shoulder and gently nudged you toward the truck. “Come on. Let’s get out of here, I don’t like him. Did he hurt you?”

You shook your head, risking a glance back over your shoulder. John still stood there, a different kind of fire in his eyes now. Determination, and rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies to anyone from Montana/who likes Montana who may have been miffed at the "middle of nowhere" comment, I live in a rural state myself and have been trying to think of what someone who's always lived in the big city and is used to the amenities of one might say after moving somewhere like Hope County. I have never been to Montana, I only know what it remotely looks like from the game. Please, let me know what Montana is really like, I'd be happy to hear it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your Aunt Rae Rae is concerned about you as a US Marshall comes to town, and you head up north to the Whitetail Mountains to meet Eli and get some of that fresh mountain air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back after a long hiatus! I hope you like this. I attempted to write Eli in character as I imagine he would be before the events of FC5, just because I do really like him, but his character in the game is a little, well, bland personality-wise.

Sheriff’s Deputy Stacy Pratt and another deputy, one he just introduced as Rookie to the other’s obvious annoyance, were waiting by your car when Rae Rae stopped where you had pulled over. You didn’t say much, just nodded hello while Rae Rae did all the talking. She was abruptly cheerful, explaining that she couldn’t get ahold of the garage guy so she had to come and get you first. The two deputies were understanding, just saying that they were worried someone had gotten hurt. 

You stayed quiet on the ride back to town, listened to Rae Rae talk to Jesse, and watched as she gave the garage guy a verbal thrashing. He agreed to go out and tow your car, free of charge of course for the trouble, and take a look at it. You spent the night at Rae Rae’s. Jesse was more than happy, she ended up falling asleep on the dog bed with Boomer, and Rae Rae kept looking at you with concern. You brushed off her worries, saying you were fine, and slept on the couch to be near Jesse. 

The guy at the garage said he couldn’t figure out why your car had broken down and it wouldn’t start again. Rae Rae loaned you Ryan’s truck; used, but his first vehicle. You felt guilty for taking Ryan’s truck for more than a few days; he was always excited to drive it around even if it was just a trip to the grocery store. It was also the last project he and his dad had done together before he disappeared. Ryan said he didn’t mind, and that his friends had vehicles if he wanted to hang out with them. Your only job was to make sure it didn’t get a scratch on it, and make sure that Jesse didn’t throw up inside and stain the seats, because that wouldn’t be ‘cool’. 

“You should head up to the mountains,” Rae Rae told you one day. “Dutch’s niece Jess is up there, she’d like Jesse. And he’s got a friend named Eli. He’s pretty nice. He offered to take you and Jesse on a couple easy hikes and keep the bears and wolves away.” She grinned a little at the last comment, knowing you were paranoid about animal attacking you and Jesse. Jesse would barely be a snack to something like a grizzly. 

“What about Ryan’s truck? I can’t keep it from him for the whole weekend. He’ll want to go out with his friends.” 

“That truck’ll do better up there than that car ever would. That thing’s made for driving in the city, a bear could crush it. We’ll convert you sooner or later.” 

You rolled your eyes. You didn’t like driving Ryan’s truck as it was, and his was fairly low to the ground compared to some you had seen, including Rae Rae’s. “What’s the real reason? You’ve been weird for the past couple of days.” 

She sighed and glanced outside to make sure Jesse wasn’t anywhere close by. The little girl was, in fact, playing with Boomer in the driveway. He licked her face while she giggled and screamed. 

“Something’s going to go down,” Rae Rae said in a low voice. “I’ve only heard rumors about it. A US Marshall is here for Joseph Seed.” 

“What?” you said. 

“Just drove in yesterday. Mary May heard it from Joey Hudson, one of the deputies. The mountains are farthest away from their compound that I can think of, and I don’t want you around in case things get ugly. No one’s said anything, but a lot of people know there’s something up with you and the Seeds. Dutch, Jess, and Eli can keep you safe if anything happens.” 

“If what happens?” you asked. “They’re just some doomsday cult. They’re not going to come after everyone else.” 

“I’m more worried about John coming for you.” 

“John isn’t going to come near me, he’s not stupid or crazy. He’s a lawyer, he knows the law inside and out.”

“I just want you to be safe,” she said. “You come back Sunday night, hopefully the Fed will be done with his business, the peanut gets to sleep in her own bed, and we can all carry on like we have been.” 

“Fine,” you said. “I’ll go, but only to meet Jess and go hiking.” 

“You like that outdoorsy stuff, how’d you ever stay in that city for so long?”

You shrugged, you’d never really been hiking until coming to Montana and found that you really enjoyed it. You even enjoyed the wildlife, as long as it wasn’t going to kill you. 

Rae Rae helped you pack, making sure you took all your practical outdoors clothes and lots of snack foods with expiration dates set for a year or more in the future. You looked at her like she was crazy, but let her do it anyway. She seemed worried and you didn’t know how to console her. And, how could you say no when she bought both you and Jesse good, sturdy hiking boots made for the Montana mountains and not just a walk along the riverside. When she was in Jesse’s room packing a smaller bag, you slipped in the boots John had given you so long ago. Nothing about them was practical for the Whitetail Mountains or hiking, but you had worn them almost everyday since he had gotten them for you, and you couldn’t bear to leave them behind. 

You barely slept that night, instead checking on Jesse at least four separate times and watching her sleep in between tossing and turning. If there was a US Marshall coming to arrest Joseph Seed, maybe Eden's Gate was worse than you thought. Maybe it was even as dangerous as Rae Rae and everyone else thought. Ryan's dad did disappear, and so did a lot of other people. You were happy enough to ignore it, but someone coming from the federal government to arrest Joseph? Maybe they were peddling drugs or something. It surely couldn't be as bad as everyone imagined it to be, but maybe it would be a good idea to be out of the line of fire in the woods for a couple days just in case some news broke and your marriage to John was revealed. It could make things harder for you. And you had to admit, Jacob's visit, and even Joseph's, had frightened you. That and the change you saw in John, his talk of an apocalypse. 

“Should we take Ryan with us?” you asked on the morning of your departure. Rae Rae had been bustling around, making breakfast like it was the last supper. “I’m sure he’d love to go hiking too.” You didn’t want to say anything about the feds and what Rae Rae feared in front of him if Rae Rae hadn’t said anything about it. 

She considered it for a moment and then nodded. “It’ll be good for him.” 

“Good, you can drive, I hate that thing,” you told Ryan and he laughed. 

Rae Rae waved as Ryan pulled out of the driveway and you both waved back, Jesse calling her goodbyes out the window. You told her to stop waving her stuffed wolf out the window or she would end up losing it. Ryan didn’t talk until Jesse was asleep, slumped in her carseat in the back of the doublecab. 

“Where’d she get the wolf?” he asked. 

“Someone gave it to her. They thought she’d like it.” You looked out the window. “You go up to the mountains often?”

“No, but I know the way.” He messed with the radio stations, but it was country, classic rock, or the Eden’s Gate radio. “Mom won’t tell me what’s happening.” 

“Nothing’s happening,” you said. “We’re all going for a vacation in the wilderness. With bears and mountain lions. What could go wrong?” 

Ryan scowled at you, looking more grown up than you’d seen him look in a long time. “I know something’s wrong. I’m not stupid.”

“She’s just worried,” you said, trying to maintain your calm. Rae Rae’s mood had ratcheted your anxiety up. “Apparently there’s a federal agent here to arrest Joseph Seed. She doesn’t want us to be close by and getting caught up in the crossfire if it turns into Waco or something.” 

“I know about Waco,” Ryan said. “The only civilians hurt were the ones in the cult compound.” 

“She’s just concerned,” you told him. “Any mother would be. Things could turn violent, you never know.”

“You don’t seem worried.”

You were more worried than he knew, you were just better at hiding it sometimes. “I don’t see much of a reason. If Joseph Seed gets arrested, he’s arrested and probably out on bail or something within a few days. I don’t see how much is going to change for the rest of us; I don’t think his people would just start attacking everyone in town. But your mother’s lived here with them for far longer than I have. Maybe she has more of a reason to be worried than we think.” 

“Then why didn’t she come with us?” 

“She had other commitments. She was gonna help Mary May with the bar on Saturday night, apparently it's karaoke and they need to make sure a Shark doesn’t set the place on fire?”

Ryan laughed a little, but worry still creased his face. “Sharky’s a bit of pyro. He likes karaoke when he gets drunk.” 

“See, she’ll definitely be needed.” 

He was silent for a few minutes before he broached the next topic of conversation. “I heard you and Mom talking, she said something about John Seed.” 

You kept the cheerful smile on your face, even as your heart felt like it stopped for minute. “What about him?”

“It sounded like you had a relationship or something.” He slowed down to let a couple deer dart out of the road before speeding back up again. 

You looked back out the window, wondering if you should lie or not. He was almost an adult, though, and he’d have to understand adult relationships at some point. You couldn’t hide something like that from him, especially once word got out that you were divorcing one of the most infamous men in Holland Valley. You were surprised word hadn’t spread around before, but Rae Rae had a way of verbally strong arming people into doing what she wanted. For example, convincing your lawyer to not start rumors.   
“  
We are currently married,” you said. When he didn’t say anything, you continued. “He left me to come start this cult up with his brothers, and changed his name. I knew him as John Duncan. I didn’t spare him a second thought until I moved here and found out he now goes by John Seed. I’m divorcing him now.” 

Ryan was quiet for a moment more. “So he’s Jesse’s dad?”

“No. She came to me after he left.” 

He nodded slowly. “That’s why Mom wanted you to go up here, so you didn’t get caught up in anything because you’re married.” 

“Yes. She still seemed worried, so I thought maybe getting you out of the area would calm her down some.” 

His head bobbed again. “I don’t think it worked much.” 

You sighed. “Me neither. How much longer do we have?”

You switched off driving about halfway there, though Ryan gave you directions. He didn’t ask you anymore questions about John Seed or what was going on. Jesse only woke up toward the end of the ride when you pulled up to a burger place. 

“I’m hungry,” Ryan said, rubbing his hands together and hopping out of the car. You got out and were busy getting Jesse out while he called out to someone named Eli. You figured he was probably Dutch’s friend by the way Ryan greeted him; like people who were friendly, put didn’t see each other too often. Ryan was more cheerful than Eli was, probably because he didn’t have to sit in the truck for any longer. 

Jesse put one arm around your neck and wrapped her legs around your waist, resting her head on your other shoulder. The stuffed wolf Jacob had given her was tucked against her side. You closed the door and turned to greet the newcomer. 

“This is Eli,” Ryan said. “He’s the one who’s going to be our guide.” World of Beard-dom indeed. He had a nice bushy one. 

You smiled and introduced yourself. “And this is Jesse.” The little girl glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but otherwise didn’t move from your shoulder. “She’ll wake up in a little bit.”   
You all walked into the burger joint and found a table. Eli knew the people there and got into a short conversation with the waitress while you settled in. Jesse was a little more ready to face the world now, turned around to face Ryan and Eli across from you and looking around the tiny diner, but still wouldn’t speak. 

“So,” Eli said, “I assume you want some easier hiking trails?” He nodded at Jesse. 

“That would be best, I think,” you said. “Jesse loves to run around, but anything too hard and we’ll be carrying her all the way back. She gets heavy after a few minutes.” 

Eli smiled. “I’ll bet. She’s a well built little tank, isn’t she?” He reached across the table and tweaked her nose, and Jesse looked somewhere between offended and amused. 

“I’ve got a couple in mind. They all have great views. Dutch told me Jess is coming with us, so we’ll have enough people to make sure this little kiddo here doesn’t end up rolling down a steep hill somewhere.” 

You chuckled along with Ryan and Eli at the joke, even though your heart almost stopped at the mention of Jesse falling while they were hiking. Montana had some huge mountains with falls that could easily kill a grown man, let alone a little child like her. You held her just a little tighter at the images in your mind. 

“So, what do you do?” Eli asked after their drinks had been brought. “Dutch said you moved from the city.” 

“I’m helping Rae Rae with the farm for right now. What do you do?”

“Construction, but I was an engineer when I was deployed.” He leaned back and turned his attention to the teenage waitress taking their order.

“He does a lot more than just ‘construction’,” Ryan said when the waitress was gone. “He builds bunkers for doomsday preppers like Dutch.” 

Eli shook his head. “I just learned a lot of that stuff when I was overseas.”

“More than I can do,” you said. Jesse leaned back against your chest and sipped at her chocolate milk through the plastic crazy straw they had put in, and said she could keep. “And you can utilize it out here.”

“What do you got there?” Eli asked, pointing to the stuffed wolf Jesse still clutched to her chest. She set her drink down and held up the wolf so he could see it more clearly. “And what’s his name?” She hadn’t named it yet to your knowledge, and said so each time someone asked. 

But instead of shrugging her little shoulder, she mumbled in her post-nap haze,“Unca’ Jac’b,” and your heart almost dropped out of your chest. 

Ryan’s eyes widened and stared at you, and you slapped on a sheepish smile, trying to cover up your horror. “From some dumb movie I watched one day. One of the characters is a werewolf or something like that named Jacob. He looks a little like my brother.” You prayed he wouldn’t know what movie you were talking about, even though it had been everywhere more than a few years ago.

“Ah,” Eli said, glancing between you and Ryan. You lightly kicked Ryan under the table and he took a couple big gulps of his soda to hide his expression. 

Jesse leaned forward, suddenly deciding she wanted to be social, and held the wolf out across the table to Eli. “Eats all the herds.” 

You so wanted to hope that wasn’t a reference to something Jacob had said to her and she had just picked it up from the TV one night instead, but the strange flash across Eli’s face made you think otherwise. 

The look was gone in a second, replaced with a playful grin, and Eli took the wolf from Jesse’s hand. “Does he?” He turned it around on her and made fake growling sounds, miming the stuffed wolf jump at her. She giggled and pretended to hide against your chest. 

Their meals came soon after that, and you made Jesse put the wolf on the bench where it wouldn’t get food on it. The conversation thankfully turned to the hiking trails, and Eli’s suggestions for which ones to do. You nodded along even though you had no idea what he was talking about, and let Ryan and him do the deciding. Eli mentioned that Jess might have more ideas on where they could go that wouldn’t be too difficult for a toddler, and the conversation didn’t return to the stuffed wolf’s odd name. 

Much later, after dinner and after they had been all sitting chatting for a while, Eli led the way up to an old cabin of his he was so kindly letting them stay in. You and Jesse were given one of the bedrooms, and you loaded your bags into the room while Eli and Ryan argued about who would get the couch. You got the feeling the couch was better sleeping than the bed in that room, and neither really wanted to sleep in it. 

Jesse was about ready to sleep by the time you had both used the bathroom and changed into pajamas and set out both your hiking clothes on top of your bags, despite that she had napped on the way up. The grease from her burger seemed to have the effect of putting her to sleep. Outside the room, She crawled into the middle of the bed after you gave her a kiss and nodded off after a few minutes of playing with her wolf. She cuddled the stuffed animal to her cheek, and you found yourself hoping she wouldn’t be too attached to the stuffy for long. You’d have stop at a store and see if you could find her a new one she’d take to before you left to go back to Fall’s End. Maybe one of that bear named Cheeseburger you saw posters for. You wanted Jesse to have more family she could depend on, but if there was a big investigation into the cult so big as to need a US Marshall, you didn’t know if you wanted her to have any memories of the Seed family at all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go on a pleasant hike and then settle down for what was supposed to be a peaceful evening at the cabin, and then we start to diverge from game canon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which the game is a little fuzzy on chronological details, so the author is just going to put them where it suits her.

You couldn’t sleep again, even though you knew you needed to. You eventually found yourself tip toeing past Ryan where he slept like a rock on the couch and out the front door to sit on the little porch. It was pretty much pitch black here except for the moon, but you couldn’t hear much in the woods at this time of night, only crickets.  


You couldn’t get John off your mind. Maybe you should take Jesse and take a vacation back in the city for a couple weeks, go see your friends. At least until the arrests blew over somewhat and your lawyer could leverage John harder into signing the papers. Maybe even a judge from the county could order your marriage annulled or something if Joseph got arrested. That way maybe you could keep yourself and Jesse at least somewhat out of the limelight. 

The front door closed and you jumped, turning back. There wasn’t much light, only a little from the moon, but you relaxed once you saw the bushy beard. Eli sat on the step next to you. 

“Couldn’t sleep?” you asked. 

“No. The cot in the other room isn’t too comfortable.” 

“I’m sorry, you should’ve kept the bed, it’s your cabin after all-”

“No, I don’t sleep much anyway. And we can’t have a sweet girl like Jesse sleeping on the floor.” It was too dark to see his face, but you imagined he was smiling from the warm tone of his voice. 

“What about you?”

“Just… worrying. Keeps me up.” 

“Anything in particular?”

You shrugged and then realized Eli probably couldn’t see it. “Rae Rae freaked me out a little. She said a US Marshal came to town and is supposed to arrest Joseph Seed this weekend.” 

“That why she wanted you to come up?”

“Yeah. Thought it might be good for us to. She still seemed worried so I suggested to bring Ryan along just in case anything--I don’t know, explodes-- or something.” 

“I’m surprised she told you come up here if your daughter named her wolf Uncle Jacob.” 

You put your face in your hands. “I didn’t know she’d named it after him.” 

“Did he give it to her?”

“He was in my driveway. I didn’t see at first, she was playing out in the yard. I only looked away for a second, then she was gone. I found her in the driveway with him.” 

“And Jacob’s interested in you?”

“I think he’s more interested in seeing Jesse. What did Dutch tell you?”

“Nothing too much. Just said you were concerned about the cult and wanted to get away for a couple of days.” 

“I wasn’t concerned until the day before yesterday.” You didn’t know if you should divulge everything about John to him. Even if he was so nice, some people got weird whenever Eden’s Gate was mentioned. You didn’t want him to get weird about anything, especially since he was being so kind to take you into the middle of the wilderness. 

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Joseph’ll get arrested, there’s a little bit of drama with the cult, and then everything starts to go back to normal.” Eli patted her shoulder. “You should try to go sleep, tomorrow will be a long day if you don’t.”

You stood and went back to your room, sliding into the bed next to Jesse. She snuggled into your arms and you felt your eyes beginning to close, even if Eli’s words hadn’t been all that reassuring. 

Jesse woke you up, jumping on the bed and shouting about going outside. Getting out of the cabin was a bit of a process with the hyperactive toddler running around your legs. You barely got a chance to say good morning to Ryan and Eli. 

Ryan followed Eli out to the trail head, where Eli said Dutch’s niece was supposed to be waiting, but she wasn’t there. Eli tried to call her cell phone, but only got the answering machine instead. Her family didn’t even pick up their home phone. He seemed worried, but shrugged it off, saying she was probably off grid doing one of her prepper things like Dutch did, and had roped her family into it. Ryan didn’t question him and Jesse didn’t care much, too excited to run around, but you saw him texting someone before he put his phone back in his pocket.  
You started up the trails, and as promised it wasn’t too bad. None of the sheer cliffs and peaks you’d seen in the distance while driving around the county, and headed up here. You didn’t happen to see any bears or mountain lions at all, thankfully, though Jesse did startle a few deer. You ate lunch on a ledge at the top of the hike with a beautiful view, and you and Eli carefully made sure Jesse didn’t go too close to the edge of the cliff. Eli took her to look over, but he was still a foot away while you hovered behind him. 

The trip down the mountain was uneventful, except that Jesse had gotten tired after ten minutes of walking and cried to be carried. Ryan swooped into the rescue and carried her, passing her between you and Eli. You suspected she wasn’t really tired and just wanted to be carried, but she put on a very convincing, tearful face whenever her feet touched the ground for even a single second. 

Back at the truck, Jesse bounced around the tiny parking area. You were sweaty and exhausted, but you couldn’t help but smile at her. You all went out for burgers again at the same restaurant. The waitress didn’t seem surprised to see your group sweaty and tired, and promised Eli some refreshing glasses of ice water while she led you to your seat. 

“Are there less Peggies up here?” Ryan asked while you were waiting for your food. Jesse played with the salt and pepper shaker, ignoring everything and humming some made up tune. 

“What?” Eli asked. 

“I haven’t seen as many Peggies as back in Holland Valley Do you have less of them?”

Eli shook his head. “I don’t know. Probably not. They aren’t too welcome in many businesses around the mountains, so they stay close to home, I think. People think they’re unnatural. Suspicious.” 

“Creepy,” the waitress added, now standing at the head of your booth with a plastic water pitcher in hand. She lowered her voice as she started filling her glasses, so as not to alarm the other patrons. “Did you hear about the US Marshall?” 

Eli nodded. 

“I hope he gets rid of them. More people have gone missing in the last few days than before. No one’s heard from the Blacks’ since the day before yesterday. Have you?”

“We haven’t,” Eli said, his forehead creased with worry now. “Will you excuse me? I’ve got to make a call outside.” 

Ryan stared at you with wide eyes while the woman cooed at Jesse and brought over a coloring page and a small box of crayons. Jesse happily took them and began filling in the picture of Cheeseburger the Bear with a bright pink. 

“It’s probably fine,” you whispered across the table to Ryan after the woman walked away to attend to her other customers. “Eli said Jess goes off grid sometimes. She’s like Dutch, isn’t she?” 

“Her entire family though?” Ryan said. “Maybe we should go back to Mom’s house tonight.” 

“We’re both exhausted and in no shape to be driving,” you said. “We’ll give her a call tonight and see if she’s all right, then decide. Everything will be okay, Ryan.” 

You could see Eli through the window, pacing back and forth while he talked on the phone. You wondered if he was calling Dutch, they seemed to know each other well.

Ryan didn’t look like he believed you, but leaned back in his seat and didn’t argue. Jesse distracted him by asking him to help color the finer details of Cheeseburger’s person. 

It was ten minutes before Eli came back in, just in time for your plates to be delivered. Jesse clapped at her chicken tenders and dug in, delicately dipping it in the mustard on the side before taking large bites. 

“Make sure you chew that,” you admonished, using a napkin to wipe some mustered from her chin. 

“She’s just hungry after all that walking we did,” Eli said cheerfully, hiding whatever worries he had and taking a big bite of his burger. He chewed it obnoxiously at Jesse, prompting her to do the same back at him. You shook your head and nibbled at your sandwich and fries, but the rock of a bad feeling sitting in your belly didn’t let you eat much. You couldn’t help but replay what Ryan had said about going home. You didn’t know whether the bad feeling was about going home, or if you stayed here, or if something would happen to Rae Rae. 

It was nightfall by the time you made it back to the cabin. A couple of the locals had come over and managed to distract you all from everything for a little bit; a raunchy older woman named Adelaide and her much younger boyfriend. She took to you and Jesse immediately and invited you to take a trip in her helicopter whenever you wanted. Jesse talked about the helicopter all the way back to the cabin after Adelaide explained what a helicopter was in vivid terms you were sure Jesse barely understood. 

Back at the cabin, Eli and Ryan built up a fire in the fire pit while you changed Jesse into her pajamas. Exhaustion from the day was beginning to catch up to her, now that she had a warm meal in her belly. You tucked her and her wolf into the bed tight and pressed kisses all over her face until she giggled and pushed you away. You kissed her wolf too when she held it up to your mouth and gave her a final good night before retreating outside. 

Eli and Ryan were talking quietly, sitting on logs around the fire. They quieted when you let the door close gently behind you and you got the distinct feeling they were talking about something to do with you and your relation to the cult. 

“Did you hear anything about Jess?” you asked, sitting across from them. 

“No, nothing.” Eli dragged a weary hand over his face. “Dutch’s been trying to contact her. Someone went to the house but her family was gone too. It looked like someone had broken in. A deputy said they were going to check things out, but I haven’t heard anything else.” 

“How many deputies are there?” you asked. This was a big county, but with such a small population and how rural it was, you couldn’t imagine there were a lot of openings. 

“Only a few.” Eli sighed. “It’ll get figured out. Some of her family’s a little crazy; she had to go live with her grandmother for a while when she was a kid. Probably something stupid.” 

You weren’t convinced, but you looked into the flames instead of questioning it. “Did you call your mom, Ryan?” 

He shook his head. “No service.”

“I don’t see how you guys function here with how spotty the cell service is,” you tried to joke and changed the subject. “It seems like everyone’s heard about the marshall,” you said. “They probably know too.” 

“I’d expect so,” Eli said. “When something as exciting as this happens, word travels fast around here.” 

“Do you think it’s going to be bad?” Ryan asked. 

Eli regarded Ryan, and you couldn’t help but think about how young he was, and then he observed you too. You imagined you probably had a frightened look on your face. 

“I don’t think Joseph Seed will go quietly,” Eli said finally. “I haven’t seen any Peggies the last two days, so they’ve probably regrouped. Lots of Peggie owned businesses closed up quick too, and haven’t reopened. They’ve probably run to their bunkers.”

“They think the marshall is going to bring whatever the Collapse is?” you said. 

“I think they feel attacked. This county hasn’t been kind to them of late, and with the rumors swirling about kidnapping and all that, well, people have gotten angry.” 

“Are they going to hurt us?” Ryan said. 

“No, no. Of course not.” Eli smiled now and put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Everything will be fine. A trial will create some drama and news, but then everyone can go back to their own lives.”

You started to say something, but instead you hear a distinct explosion echo in the silence of the night. You and Ryan looked at each other, and then at Eli. He was standing now, watching above the treeline where there was a faint orange glow. 

“I can’t see anything,” he said and hurried inside the cabin. You and Ryan ran in after him. Eli searched through his hiking bag for something, and you poked your head in Jesse’s room. She was sleeping soundly. You closed the door so Ryan and Eli’s stomping and the light wouldn’t wake her. 

Eli came out of his room with binoculars around his neck and pulled out a small ladder. He set it up under the old skylight and opened it, screen and all, raining dead bugs everywhere. He pulled himself through the window and you could hear him walking up the slope of the roof. Ryan scrambled up the ladder too. You shifted your weight for a few moments, pondering whether you should climb up or wait with Jesse. 

“Come on!” Eli yelled, making your decision for you. You precariously climbed it and he helped to pull you through the skylight. Ryan had the binoculars, but you didn’t imagine he could see much with how dark it was. He passed it to you and you looked in the same direction.

On the roof, with the slope of the mountain the cabin was on, you could see more than just an orange glow. There was some sort of fire down below. 

“That’s the island where the Eden’s Gate compound is,” Eli said. 

“I can’t make out much,” you admitted. “It’s too dark.” You got the sense he'd spent a lot of time on this roof or even higher up the mountain looking at the compound through his binoculars. 

“Something big happened,” he said, and your breath stopped as, as if to confirm his words, you began to hear gunshots. Eli took the binoculars back from you and you all stood there for almost twenty minutes, listening as more and more gunshots came up from all over the county. 

“Those are from the Henbane River,” Eli narrated as more started up. “Those are from Holland Valley.” And then you heard even louder ones, and you knew they had started up here in the mountains too. 

“I need to get home,” Ryan said and scrambled back down through the window. 

“No!” Eli went after him, knocking the ladder down in his haste, and he yelled at Ryan to stop. Ryan didn’t though, instead you heard the door slam as Ryan ran outside. 

You went to the edge of the roof and climbed down to the little porch roof, watching through the dark as Ryan raced for the truck. “Stop, Ryan! Wait for just a second! We’ll call her!”  
He didn’t hear you though, the roar of the truck starting drowning out your voice. Eli ran out into the dooryard too, and over the sound of the truck you heard Jesse’s sobs as she screamed for you.

The spinning wheels of the truck scattered rocks and dirt everywhere, and then Ryan was gone down the road, leaving you alone with the sound of gunshots and Jesse’s cries. 

“Help me,” you said and Eli helped you climb down to the porch. Jesse stood in the middle of the floor inside the cabin, her face red and covered in tears. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m here.” You scooped her up while she screamed into your shoulder. 

“What’s going on?” you asked, tears stinging at your own eyes and your voice thick with fear. 

“I’m going to call Dutch,” Eli said. “He has a radio.” He went back to his bag and began to dig through for something again. You bounced Jesse gently in your arms, murmuring in her ear to try to get her to quiet down some. The shoulder of your shirt was soaked through now, and you imagined there was a fair bit of snot on it too from the sounds of Jesse’s sniffles between her sobs. 

Eli pulled a big walkie-talkie looking thing out of his bags and fiddled with the dial until he found what he was looking for and pressed in a button. “Dutch? Dutch, you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here.” 

You could’ve cried from relief at the sound of his voice. His voice was quiet, and there was something going on in the background. 

“What’s going on, Dutch? We saw the explosion down on the island and heard gunshots start up.” 

“It’s the fucking Peggies! Is everyone all right?”

“We’re fine, but Ryan took off in his truck. He said he was going home.” 

“Damn it. The frequencies have been going off like crazy. People are saying the Peggies are attacking them, and Joseph’s put out a message. ‘Begin the reaping’.” 

You heart almost stopped as the lights went out as he said it, and Jesse’s sobs rose in pitch as she practically choked you with her grip around your neck. 

“Hold on, I see someone coming out of the water, I think it’s a deputy.” Dutch swore and said your name. “You and the kid be careful. Don’t trust anyone but Eli. He’ll try and find a way to get you down to me. They’re pointing guns at them, I have to go.” 

“Wait--Dutch!” Eli tried, but Dutch didn’t come back on the radio. 

“What’s going to happen?” you asked. 

“I don’t know, but I’m going to keep you two safe.” He looked around the cabin, and spotted the fire still burning. “I need to put that out if they’re really attacking people.” 

You had to clamp a hand across your mouth as he began throwing dirt on the fire to smother the flames. Jesse was already upset, you crying wouldn’t do anything to help. Instead, you tried to calm her down by sitting on the floor against the wall and holding her tight, telling her she was going to be okay. 

“‘S dark,” she managed to gasp out after her sobs had died down just a little. 

“I know, sweet girl, but I’m here with you and so is your wolf and Eli. Do you know where your wolf is?” 

“Dropped it,” Jesse said, voice threatening to break into louder cries, and you hushed her. 

“Let’s find your Jacob, hmm?” You scooted along the floor, bumping into the ladder with a much louder noise than you would've liked with what was going on outside, and felt around the path she could have taken from the bedroom. Your hand brushed something familiar and soft. You felt it more to make sure it was actually the stuffy, and then pressed it into her arms. 

With the light from the fire gone now, it was pitch black. You couldn’t see anything, only heard it when footsteps came up the porch and the door opened and closed. You held Jesse tighter until you heard Eli asking for you. 

“We’re here,” you said. Jesse was quieting now. Eli made his way over to you and guided you back into his room, and into the back corner. You stepped carefully and you both sat in the back corner behind some piece of furniture. Jesse’s breathing began to even out as you sat in silence, his arm around her shoulders, and even though you thought it would be impossible, the gunfire quieted down just long enough for you to fall asleep against Eli’s shoulder. 

You woke to the gray light of dawn. Eli leaned against the wall by the window, a pistol in his hand. Jesse was a deadweight in your arms, still exhausted from crying herself to sleep. You stood slowly, wincing as your muscles protested from your night on the floor, and gently laid her down in Eli’s cot. 

“Have you heard anything?” you whispered. 

“Not since you fell asleep.” He had dark bags under his eyes. “Someone came up the road a while ago, but they kept going farther up the mountain.” 

“Was it a Peggie?” you asked. 

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I couldn’t get a good look without them seeing me.” 

“Have you heard from Ryan or Rae Rae?”

“No.” 

“Have you been able to talk to Dutch again?”

“Yes. He said the deputies and the marshall were all taken by the cult. Anyone who’s not dead or taken are all holed up.”

“What do we do?” You couldn’t help it when your voice broke. 

“We’ll be fine,” Eli said, putting a hand on your shoulder like he had with Ryan. “I’ll keep you and Jesse safe and get you to Dutch’s.”

You nodded and left to go pack your hiking pack with only the essentials you and Jesse needed, until you got to the black boots John had given you. You sniffled and tears ran down your cheeks and you clutched them to your chest. How could he have taken part in something like this? Kidnapping and killing people, that wasn’t the John you knew.

“Hey,” Eli said. He stood in the doorway, watching you cry with your boots. “You’ll be okay.” 

“It’s-it’s not that,” you sniffed, setting the boots aside. “I can’t believe he would do something like this.” 

“Who, Ryan? He’s just a scared kid, he wasn’t thinking when he--”

“No, no, John.” 

Eli was silent for a moment. “John Seed?”

“Duncan. My last name is Duncan.” You hated the name Seed now, you decided. It had taken your husband away from you and now it might have taken your aunt and cousin, and everyone you’d gotten to know here in Hope County. 

Eli slowly paced into the room and sat beside you, like he was afraid you were going to attack him. “I’d heard John S-he was being divorced by someone.” 

“He’s not the same, since he left me. I saw him-I spoke to him. I was angry, and he was still different than he used to be.”

“So… Uncle Jacob…”

“I adopted her. My brother and his wife died in a car crash. She doesn’t have blood with any of them. They’re not her real family, I’m her only parent now.” 

“I don’t think they feel that way about her. You know how really religious people can be about marriage. Forever, and all that.” 

“This isn’t making me feel better,” you said. 

“I don’t think they would kill you,” Eli said. “They’d bring you to John.” 

“Oh, god.” You covered your face with your hands and rocked back and forth. “I didn’t even think about anything like that. What will John do?”

“He’s not going to get you or Jesse if I can help it,” Eli said. “But we have to move. Someone’s already seen the cabin here, I can’t be sure it wasn’t a Peggie.” 

“What if something happens? What if they have roadblocks, or, or--!”

“We’ll deal with that when the time comes,” Eli said, his tone calm. “For now, you’re going to stay low during the ride and keep Jesse calm. We don't want the Peggies seeing you.” 

You sniffed and nodded, setting the boots aside. “Okay. Okay. I’m almost done. What else do we need? I’ve got some clothes, extra socks and all that.” 

“We’re going to put some food in your bag as well as mine. Bring yours out when you’re done. And be mindful of the windows, in case anyone’s watching.” 

You brought your bag out to the couch and packed in the food Eli handed you. He loaded the bags out to the truck while you carefully picked up Jesse. She shifted a little, but didn’t wake. You closed the door softly behind you and walked across the grassy front yard as quickly as possible. There was a hole dug next to the fire pit, and its contents were inside the metal ring. Eli helped you into the truck and you positioned Jesse so you could carefully put the seat belt around both of you. 

Your thoughts, as Eli eased down the dirt road, were of the boots you left on the bed, and how you wished you could go back to that happier time when he had given them to you with the knowledge you had now. Maybe then you could convince John to stay with you, and not his brothers.


End file.
